Zero-to-60 MPH in 1.9 seconds (full specs here) makes it the quickest production car ever, and judging by these videos, it seems up to that mighty title.

Revealed last night following the debut of the Tesla Semi, the new Tesla Roadster appears mighty capable both on paper and in the real world.

To our surprise, Tesla actually had a working version of the new Roadster on hand last night and it sure did impress. And yes, it comes with Maximum Plaid mode as promised.

Check out these videos to see for yourself just what zero-to-60 in 1.9 seconds or so looks like.

Video description:

Tesla dropped a bombshell at their Semi Truck event with a “one more thing moment” as they revealed the upcoming 2020 Tesla Roadster. I placed a deposit on the $200,000 car while at the event and went for an amazing test ride.

Tesla Roadster Specs are nothing short of incredible with 0-60 MPH in just 1.9 seconds, high 8’s in the 1/4 mile, 600+ mile range and a top speed of 250 MPH!

Video description:

Skip to the good part: 55:28

Video description:

Tesla has a new roadster planned for 2020, here’s how fast it can move.

Wheels look production ready…
Mirrors? One of the two trucks didn’t have mirrors, Tesla has been aggressively trying to get side cameras approved in place of mirrors, perhaps they have insider info and succeeded or received a special exception for the truck/roadster only…

Steering wheel, I’m unsure what the laws actually are…

But with the mirrors and steering wheel, would have been extremely easy to bolt on Model S/X steering wheels and side mirrors…

The thing is, powerful electric motors exist for more than 100 years.
Some years ago a guy made in his garage an electric car able to do 0-60 in 1.8 sec. (google “white zombie”).
The real achievement in the car industry is to mass produce reasonably priced EV’s with good reliability records AND make profits doing that. That is about 1 million times harder than making “white zombie” in red.
Now for sure Tesla needs money so hopefully a couple of presentation should keep the narrative going, not that it fools Wall street but it fools their retail customers which is sufficient.

This is hard to judge, as others state, I can’t see this costing much more than a Model S to make and it sells for a lot more.

Not only that, pretend this helps sell maybe 50,000 more Model S or Model 3 cars than would otherwise sell. That number is made up and really hard to quantify, even for Tesla, but halo vehicles have that kind of effect.

Just because you can’t see the reasons this would cost more to make doesn’t mean there are no reasons.

I can see a few: three more powerful motors. 200 kWh pack. Everything else mechanical must be much stronger because of the extreme to speed. Exotic tires are required (I seem to recall the ones for the Chiron are $5000 a piece).

And then there’s the development cost, to be shared over much fewer vehicles. Homologation in multiple markets. Developing a production line. Deciding where to get parts and working out all the logistics of the operation. All of this stuff is obviously cheaper per car the more cars you make.

Back in the old days when electronics played little role I remember reading an article about how BMW transformed $4000 worth of raw materials into a $40,000 car. It doesn’t mean their profit was $36,000 per car…

Oh come on. The Zombie 222 is really cool as a project car but it isn’t a real car.

It’s has a giant battery block that fills the entire hatch and back seat area almost up to shoulder height. And he has multiple toggle switches he has to flip while driving to feed more power to the motors.

If you see it from the front or behind is has visible negative wheel camber because it is so heavy and the suspension isn’t adequate.

And it has a whopping 37 kWh pack with a range of 100 miles.

And although it hits 60 in 1.8 seconds its 1/4 mile time is 9.89 seconds which certainly isn’t bad but isn’t sub 9 seconds either.

So this is purely a conversion battery electric drag car without any modern safety features or refinement with the entire back half of the car stuffed with heavy batteries placed up too high.

Roy, thanks that tip and Clarification! Good to know! I heard about White Zombie back in 2006 or so, and it motivated me to get an EV Conversion of my own: MyElectricfly.com was a story of that Acquisition!

Try to grow with his point, why don’t you. He didn’t say people would buy the thing. He said manufacturing it on an efficient manner at a profit is the difficult bit, and that achieving sub-two-seconds to sixty isn’t the incredible achievement you all pretend it to be. Nothing about your reply even begins to address any of his points – and instead you attack him for not being fun at parties. What do we call the kind of people who do this..?

Could the home-made car compete on a track?
Did it have 600 miles of range?
Was it reliable?
Was it even pleasurable to do anything in it other than drag race? Because that’s generally all that home-made hot rods are good for – stop light bragging rights.

If this Tesla can beat Porsche’s finest at Nurburgring then it will be shockingly impressive.

Brilliant! Can’t wait to see the Roadster at the track, laughing at Demons, Ferrari’s, McLarens, etc. This whole time, for years those manufacturers have been happy when their million dollar cars BARELY beat Model S’s by the quarter mile mark.. Model S’s that weren’t even designed for the purpose.

Track faithful should honestly also point out there are plenty of ICE cars that can ~terminally heat up inside 20 minutes. So, if you’re driving them for recreation (I know its sinful, but a couple times a year), you bail out of the throttle and maybe live with lower speeds from corner to corner. Teslas over-heat, but can go for much more than 5 minutes at their reduced (4,800lb/300HP) mode. Just use the same strategy. That’s why I don’t think it’s bashing Tesla, or Musk, to openly wonder where things stand on this issue. The driver, with Drag Times above, hinted the cars could repeat accelerations, and keep taking people. Great, but not enough info (yet). For $250,000, almost ten years into development, throw the track people a bone. They’re a more evolved species, than the knuckle-dragging 0-XX types, anyway.

They appear to be gunning to wipe out the track issue as the last refuge of ICE “superiority” based on the size of the battery. The large battery helps with available power too but seems unnecessarily large if that is the only aim.

It has been said that while a Model S CAN reach 155 Mph, it is More comfortable cruising at 125 Mph (And can do at least 20 Minutes straight at that speed)! So, if this car CAN REACH 250 MPH, I bet it would be fine cruising at 200 Mph! Just Sayin’

“The large battery helps with available power too but seems unnecessarily large if that is the only aim.”

Yes.

A very large battery pack means a comfortable margin of power available, which in turn means less overheating of the battery pack.

Of course I’m just guessing here, but I think it’s an educated guess. Tesla has gotten “dinged” by the gearhead crowd for their high-performance cars not being able to do laps on a real race track without overheating. Of course, the Models S and X are not intended to be track cars, even if they are used as drag racers. But there will be an expectation that the new Roadster will handle a track better.

My guess, or prediction if you will, is that the reason the new Roadster has what appears to be an oversized battery pack is to deal with the waste heat problem. Well, that and giving it…

The best way to do it is to not comment on stuff you are not interested in. You may not have the money to buy it but others do and will since this is obviously better than anything on the market today.

This roadster will be highly profitable. The only real cost increase over a Model S outside of R&D is likely the extra 100 KWH battery, and I guarantee that the battery difference is less than 125k. Probably like 10k in 2020.

You may be right, however as part of the car electrification process, the 0-60 performance will become meaningless as so cheap & easy to achieve. It took huge resources to make ICE cars that could do 0-60 in less than 4 seconds, with EVs, just take the electric motor of a large elevator and fix it on a steel frame with wheels. It brings costs down so does profit margins.

Ordinary trolls, yes. Tesla bashing trolls motivated by greed and attempts to manipulate TSLA stock prices… not so much. If you read InsideEVs comments much, you’ll soon see that this special breed of troll does not go away when ignored.

Dude, why do you feel so compelled to slam Tesla every time they do something in a way you wouldn’t? Tell you what: Start your own EV manufacturing company if you think you can do better. Honestly, I’ll cheer you on if it looks like you can do even a quarter as well as Tesla has.

In the meantime, you might want to consider that you’re attempting to handwave away the entire market for Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Bugatti, and Alfa Romeo; and to some extent also Aston Martin, Porsche, Jaguar, Infiniti, and Lexus.

Just because you don’t want one, doesn’t mean nobody does! Stop being so mean-spirited.

It is simply amazing, almost breathtaking, the arrogant way you simply assume you know what people are thinking better than they do themselves.

And for the record: No, a person who is doing nothing is not doing better than Tesla. Seems to go along with your avoiding making any predictions and then sniping at me when a few of my predictions about the Tesla Semi Truck turn out to be wrong… while ignoring the fact that most of them were correct.

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt

Although you said “Nuremberg,” I think that you meant the Nurburgring. It seems likely that if the prototype can perform these acceleration demos for hours without much cooldown time, that it will likely manage a Nio-competitive lap time at the ‘ring in eventual production form.
Even so, I doubt that’s even a goal for Tesla, nor even a requirement to sell as many as they would aim to sell.

I saw him say to drag times “they have the car hooked up”, meaning the test driver’s actions were being recorded between runs. Tesla may have improved against what multiple runs can do, but these cars were taking their time to get back. Not very track-like.

Stan, I think there’s a point of diminishing returns at the current chemistries, especially on tight, un-cambered, technical tracks (like Sebring). It just gets to be too much weight, to be going into and out of corners with.

On the other hand, for recreation, most driving clubs don’t send students out for more than 20-30 minute sessions. (Hard to concentrate, when you’re putting @250k of your own assets on the edge.) So, it is hard to tell whether more KWh take sufficiently longer to heat, buying the driver a satisfactory ~10-20 minutes, or if because of the nature of the track they are doomed (again, like some ICE). You raise an interesting question.

A 200KWh car could have modes. Another diminishing return is power. Like Corvette chose to with Grand Sport, ~400HP works better for the weekend warrior than 650HP (seriously, few complain, and the “Grand Sport” is the goto car). Insane 650HP figures get really hard to use, when out of a straight line. A 200KWh car running under a 2C discharge rate (not challenging for a Li battery) could stay cool, and be fun even if in a 4,000lb package, in my opinion. But Tesla really ought to get away from taking a marvelous 500HP beast down to 9.2KWh to its touring car customer.

end got chopped? I meant: Tesla needs to address the heat issue, followed by suggesting that not putting ceramic brakes in a $250k roadster, where you’re modestly embarrassed by weight, is like BMW putting “9.2KWh” in a premium touring car. There’s a price-point where the customer should get more.

If Tesla has engineered the new Roadster to use regenerative braking for maximum effect, as Elon said or implied the Tesla Semi Truck does, then there is no need for special ceramic brakes, because they will never be used enough to overheat.

Not just them, there is also the RIMAC and White Zombie, EV-West and tons of electric car companies.

So we know it is not impossible to start an electric car company so, if a person knows for sure that Tesla is doing it wrong, the question raised is quite valid “If you know better how to do it, why don’t you start an electric car company?”.

Why? Primary buyer of this car will live in California…While they likely have the means to transport their car over to Germany, almost no one will…You can use acceleration on the street, you really can’t use awesome 1.0g+ legally on the streets…

Cars like this already exist … think Rimac, albeit more expensive I believe.

It’s nice, good looking and certainly capable … but it’s a supercar for 1% of population and made in limited series.

I am pretty certain that most people here on this site and other sites would prefer slower, less expensive car … think 0-60 sub 8sec., range 300miles and price tag 25K, no incentives required. Now, that would impress a whole lot more people and they could actually afford it too.

It seems, that acceleration is everything to Tesla, lately. They even think the truck drivers are all IndyCar material … LOL

2019 this, 2020 that …. they seem to be all over the place. Focus on model 3 is really what they need right now.

Tesla is the only one to understand how to win over the general market. Even if only a small percentage of people buy this, it will make a large percent of people want a Tesla, and maybe they buy a 3 instead.

Give me a efing break! Did your parents make you play with Barbies when you were a kid? The roadster is as important to Tesla as the Model 3 is. As kids play with all sorts of exotic models cars they can actually learn and advertise a brand before they evan have the means to buy it.

I went over to Car and Driver. Poor antiquated souls trying to cope with the idea that they are now obsolete. They’ve now resorted to pulling excuses out of their butts, but you can tell that they’re in shock.

I have a friend who is heavily into hot-rod street racing. A few weeks ago we were sitting around chewing the fat with some friends, and the subject of Tesla came up (not from me). He shocked me by launching into a long angry conspiracy theory rant about how he had seen the results of a FOIA request which, according to him, “proved” Tesla was being secretly funded by the government, and that if it hadn’t been, it would have gone out of business.

It was only after he left that I figured out why he was so upset with Tesla. It’s because a stock unmodified Tesla car — any Tesla car in proper working condition — can beat all but the very tippy-top of the top level “hot rod” gasmobile drag racers. In other words, Tesla is in the process of destroying gasmobile hot-rodding as anything more than an exercise in nostalgia.

They were stupid enough in their back and forth endless arguments on the Ford, Chevy, Dodge thing, which was really splitting hairs. Now introduce something that was radically different and they can’t even process that in their brain.

I love cars and always have. When I got my first EV, it was mind-boggling. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t anywhere near as fast. It was a revelation that the ICE is obsolete.

Unfortunately you have the most closed minded people when you deal with car nuts. Nostalgia, is really the only thing that keeps it going.

I think you mean to impugn most car mags, not “car nuts”. Like this article showing up on Motor1’s website, linking right back here, there is an influence of “who’s running the show”, and are they directed by the ad money Tesla isn’t spending.

This week, when automobilemag.com ran (and pulled) a story about Model 3 sitting in a California parking garage for defects, they substituted an image of an Audi along with the error 404. They seem to have no clue how hard they’re working against themselves, sometimes.

Kudos to Tesla
Hopefully they will put some R&D into the suspension and handling as it maybe quick but Tesla cars are notorious for lack of handling; typically on par with large SUVs die to weight issue

Here is part of what Kim Reynolds over at Motor Trend had to say about the Model 3:

If anybody was expecting a typical boring electric sedan here, nope. The ride is Alfa Giulia (maybe even Quadrifoglio)–firm, and quickly, I’m carving Stunt Road like a Sochi Olympics giant slalomer, micrometering my swipes at the apexes. I glance at Franz—this OK? “Go for it,” he nods. The Model 3 is so unexpected scalpel-like, I’m sputtering for adjectives. The steering ratio is quick, the effort is light (for me), but there’s enough light tremble against your fingers to hear the cornering negotiations between Stunt Road and these 235/40R19 tires (Continental ProContact RX m+s’s). And to mention body roll is to have already said too much about it. Sure, that battery is low, way down under the floor. But unlike the aluminum Model S, the Tesla Model 3 is composed of steel, too, and this car’s glass ceiling can’t be helping the center of gravity’s height. Nearly-nil body roll? Magic, I’m telling you. Magic. And this is the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive starting point. The already boggled mind boggles further at the mention of Dual Motor and Ludicrous.
[…]

Have I ever driven a more startling small sedan? I haven’t. At speed, it gains a laser-alertness I haven’t encountered before. By happenstance, associate road test editor Erick Ayapana had penciled me into a 2.0-liter Alfa Romeo Giulia to get here, and it feels like a wet sponge by comparison.

“Hopefully they will put some R&D into the suspension and handling as it maybe quick but Tesla cars are notorious for lack of handling; typically on par with large SUVs die to weight issue.”

Tesla are not “notorious for lack of handling”. Handling has not been their best feature and has paled significantly compared to straight line speed but the vast majority of reviewers, owners, drivers have describe the handling of the 3 cars as OK.

That’s the first time I’ve heard Teslas handle like SUVs. Model 3 doesn’t weigh more than Audis and BMWs. All Teslas have much lower roll-centers (almost zero body roll), which is where the comparison with SUVs completely falls apart.

Soon enough we will have to start the conversation about what is a safe acceleration speed. Under 2 seconds is just ridiculous!
I’m sure that exotic car manufacturer is reconsidering their position on electrics now.

“Founders Series Roadster reservations require an initial $5,000 credit card payment, plus a $245,000 wire transfer payment due in 10 days. Reservations are not final until the wire transfer payment is received.”

“Roadster reservations require an initial $5,000 credit card payment, plus a $45,000 wire transfer payment due in 10 days. Reservations are not final until the wire transfer payment is received. Balance due at delivery.”

The full amount of the deposit is 100% fully refundable.

“Until you enter into a Purchase Agreement, your Reservation may be cancelled at any time, in which case you will receive a full refund of your Reservation Payment.”

They sure are selling a whole lot of stupid obsolete cars and trucks every day of the week. All EVs combined still struggle to make 2% of overall sales. I think you are way over estimating the Tesla’s actual value in the marketplace.

I’m actually more impressed with Nissan and GM right now because they are actively doing what I believe is best for the future, actually getting ordinary middle class people into EVs right now. Today. Not just insecure millionaires like Elon that seem to need to be the center of attention with something to prove again and again.

I’m kind of disappointed with the way Tesla is going. It’s become a sort of investor Ponzi scheme with lots of show and sizzle, but poor actual performance and lack of focus. They seem to be more of a design firm than a production company. Maybe that’s what they should do. Do design work for others to build and market.

The good news is, Tesla does a good job of inspiring more capable companies to do the actual work of converting our transportation to all electric. The next ten years will be interesting for sure, but I see no way that Tesla will be putting any legacy car makers out of business… except maybe Saleen and McLaren.

Yeah, I remember when I bought my Pet-1 computer, I probably had the only personal computer for miles around. Four years later I was working at a computer store that sold 1-3 computers a day, ten years later I was in working in another computer store selling computers so fast (C64, Apple II and TI-99s) that we bought them in as truck loads each week. Ataris were sold by our competition.

Today, if you went into any home you expect everyone to have their own computer/tablet/smartphone.

Early 1980’s people laughed at me buying a home computer, 2017 people laugh at people who don’t have a computer/tablet/smartphone.

Can I quote you on that in “a few months”? Exactly how long is a few months anyways? 2-3 months? 6 Months? 24 months? As many months as Elon needs??

Sober up. Not every car buyer in the world views the Model 3 (I presume this is what you think will explode the world in “a few months”) as awesome as you do. The car simply doesn’t work for most vehicle buyers. It’s not a pick up, it’s not a CUV, it’s not a SUV, it’s not a hatchback, so that right there knocks out what? 75% or more of the buying public even *IF* they could afford it?

Sorry, there is no revolution. It’s an evolution and mass adoption will come to those that can price and meet the demands of the masses. Tesla has yet to come anywhere close and the reveal of their new “roadster” shows where their heads and hearts really lie.

@Dav8or. So you acknowledge that ICE cars have already passed maximum acceptance and that it is all downhill from here, but you don’t think any LICE (Legacy ICE) manufacturers will fail?
Explain that one again.

Don’t be dumb. I know it’s popular around here to not think straight while on an Elon high, but sober up just for a few minutes. A “LICE” manufacturer and easily become a “LEV” manufacturer as demand increases. It’s really not that tough for them as they have already proven.

Better yet, a Tesla Semi Truck tanker carrying carbon-neutral fully synthetic aviation fuel, because commercial airliners will likely be the last vehicles still burning fuel on an everyday basis. It’s hard to electrify a jet engine!

At some point, we need to consider that part of the carbon footprint of practically all manufactured goods is from the fuel it takes to ship the parts and the finished product. As BEV shipping takes over more and more transportation, from trucks and boats to ships and trains, the carbon footprint of nearly everything anybody buys will become lower!

You’ll get double the range of a P100DL and a pretty damn big performance bump all for “only” $60k more?

I’m sure there will be improvements in batteries and everything in the next 2-3 years but seriously that thing has to be carrying around a 200kWh pack to get in the neighborhood of 600 miles. That’s a huge jump and even with the improvements where’s it gonna fit and how much is it gonna weigh??

Where did only $60K more come from, more like $110 being it is $250K. They could easily offer for this price in 2020. Money is not the issue. Car is significantly smaller. Gigafactory will be built out then. Next gen cells will be in production then. Bigger question is if there will be enough improvements in volumetric and specific energy of next gen cells to fit in a car this size and allow 2 + 2 seating.

I like the roadster and love the semi (a much more important vehicle), but I hate how both have re-energised the very worst of the cultish Tesla fanbois in these fora. Intolerable to begin with, several are now crossing the line into “disgusting” territory.

Let’s hope they can figure out how to ramp up Model 3 production. Let’s hope their stated price target turns out to be real and that it doesn’t go the way of the $60,000 Model S. I’ll be much more impressed when they get production rate up to half a million per year and sell Model 3s at Elon’s predicted average price of 42k than when they sell a car that can do the quarter mile idiotically quickly. Or achieve an even more idiotic top speed.

To those who think this roadster matters, I wonder how you would have reacted if someone like BMW had introduced a fossil fueled car with equally stupid specifications. Ever since the Model S performance emerged I’ve heard the fans argue that its lower to speed was irrelevant – it’s a road car after all. I agree with that.

To make the car better they’d rather focus on agility, but with 200 kWh using today’s cells I’m doubtful that’s possible. Maybe by some chassis magic they can make it *feel* more eager, like the Model 3 reportedly does (but then it is lighter), but I don’t expect this to be especially good at cornering.

And just to preempt it: No, you don’t need the cornering ability either. But unlike a top speed you can never responsibly approach, agility influences how the car feels, even at perfectly safe and legal speeds. It’s not totally useless.

How can you be so blind and ignorant? Traditional car manufacturers have always looked to make a splash and introduce cars like this. And now, that they can’t keep up they convince trolls such as yourself that this is somehow not an achievement. Your cool aid pitcher needs a refill, it’s getting overused.

Looking at photo galleries for over an hour…this car’s form and styling really improve the more one looks at it. It’s a beautifully understated design and something about the proportions just feels so perfect.